And a Happy New Year
by theheathen42
Summary: Just a fun little new year piece with no real purpose. It's a one shot, but if you want more, I'm happy to write a second chapter. EDIT: chapter 2 is up and slightly angsty.
1. Chapter 1

…**And a Happy New Year**

**Author's Note: **_this is just a one shot to celebrate 2007 (which started 15 minutes ago in South Korea). If you want a sequel, ask and ye shall receive. Yes, I'll try to write for my other fics soon, too :D_

"I can't believe that you're this drunk at 11pm," Lindsay tutted in disgust as she dragged Danny into Stella's bedroom and deposited him on the bed. He flopped down, ungraciously, face first and bounced slightly on the mattress.

"I ain't drunk," he growled into the mattress. Reaching awkwardly behind himself he pointed a swaying finger in the general direction of where he believed her to be standing, "_You're_ drunk."

Lindsay crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "I am?" she asked in a dangerous tone of voice. If he'd been sober at the time, Danny might have been reminded of how she used to sound when he called her Montana.

Unfortunately, Danny _wasn't_ particularly sober, so he missed that verbal cue, just like he'd missed the amused glances of his coworkers out in the party when his attempt to sing like Barry White ended up sounding more like Barry Manilow… being run over by a car.

"Y'are," he confirmed, trying with a minimal amount of success to flip himself over onto his back.

Lindsay sighed and rolled her eyes before moving over to the bed to help him turn over. "And what makes you say that," she enquired, not really caring about the answer as much as avoiding getting hit in the head by a flailing arm.

"Cuz I saw you 'n Flack dancin' and when he put his hand on your ass, you didn't hit him," Danny answered with a certain vehemence. He also decided to demonstrate the move in question by palming her right cheek as she leaned over to prop his head on a pillow. He missed her unimpressed expression because he was too busy trying to see down her shirt.

Grinding her teeth and reminding herself that he was inebriated, Lindsay gently but firmly removed his hand from her buttocks and stood up from where she'd had a knee planted on the mattress. "You don't think perhaps I'm sober and just _liked_ having his hand on my ass?"

"Nope," he shook his head with feeling, then gripped it to stop the room from spinning. "Oogh… bad idea."

"Why not?" Lindsay asked, genuinely curious this time. She hadn't thought anything of Flack's groping affection because she knew he was just joking around. They'd gone out a time or two before and just couldn't get past the "friends" thing, so now it was a sort of joke between the two of them. She teased him about his revolving door of women and he teased her about… well, Danny.

"Cuz you're s'posed to be with _me_," he answered with more conviction than she believed he was capable of in his state. "You n' me, Montana. We're like… peas and … some other vegetable that I can't quite remember. We're like that one guy and the other one he was always hangin' around with. Y'know?" He peered blearily up at her, checking for comprehension.

"… not exactly, no," she answered, still trying to figure out what peace had to do with vegetables.

Her brow furrowed and she squinted in that cute way that drove him nuts, and Danny sat up in a first stage attempt at standing. "Oogh… not good," he moaned, falling back onto the bed and completely missing the pillows but hitting the headboard with a fair amount of accuracy. "Shit!"

"Oh, shit! Are you alright?" Lindsay hovered, gently touching the red spot on his forehead where he'd connected solidly against the wood of Stella's bed.

Danny gave her an eloquent look and said, with a remarkable display of keeping his temper, "Fabulous, thanks."

"Hold on, I'll get some ice," she said as she ran out of the room and into a chorus of where-have-_you**-**_been's from her coworkers. Determinedly not blushing, she explained about Danny's head injury and laughed off the questions of exactly _how_ it had been obtained. Grabbing some ice and a bottle of water from the fridge, she re-entered the bedroom and bit her lip in an attempt not to stare. Danny was apparently needing some sleep because he was in the process of disrobing and turning down the covers.

"Uhhh… Danny?" she asked, timidly as he slid his button-down shirt off his arms and reached for the bottom of his undershirt.

"Hey, Montana," he greeted her with a smile and a wave. "Think you could help me with my belt? Damn thing won't unbul… unblu… I can't open it." He pulled his undershirt halfway up his chest in order to show her the in-tact state of his belt.

Lindsay blinked for a moment, then gently picked her jaw up from the floor and replaced it on her face with a slight snap. Shaking her head for a moment, she pasted on a smile and guided her charge back to sit on the mattress. "Maybe later," she said, pulling his shirt back down over his abdominal muscles while simultaneously attempting to memorize what they looked like. "For now, let's get some ice on that bump of yours."

"But ice'll make it shrink," Danny said with a befuddled expression on his face and a slightly hurt tone to his voice.

"Exactly," Lindsay replied, daubing her ice-filled cloth to his forehead.

"Ohhh… _that_ bump," Danny giggled slightly. "I thought you meant the other one," he nodded toward his lap.

"Other…?" Lindsay looked in the gestured direction and her eyes opened wide while her jaw made another trip floor-ward. "**Ohhh**." She bit her lip again as she mentally mapped his 'bump' and decided the terrain was definitely, shall we say, friendly. "Oh my," she whispered, her hand dropping from his hairline as she considered the ramifications of what she was seeing.

Danny grabbed her hand and placed it back on his wound, seemingly oblivious to her reaction. They sat in companionable silence for a moment as Lindsay tried not to think about how much she liked having Danny hold her hand and Danny thought about… whatever it was he was thinking about.

"Carrots!" he suddenly burst out, surprising the hell out of her and making her fall over slightly against the headboard.

"Carrots?" Lindsay asked weakly as Danny pushed himself up onto the bed to rest propped up on the headboard beside her. "Are you hungry or something?"

"Peas and **carrots**!" he crowed triumphantly. "That's what we're like! Like that guy and the chick in that movie with the chocolates!"

Lindsay just smiled and nodded, wondering if Danny'd noticed that he'd hugged her and kept his arm around her after his sudden revelation. "Oh yeah. The movie with the guy and the chick and the chocolates. Right. Gotcha." She squirmed slightly against him, but that only made him tighten his grip.

Danny looked over her shoulder at the clock on the night table and then looked back into her eyes. He suddenly seemed much clearer-headed than he had been a minute or two before. "Montana?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah?" she answered distractedly, trying to figure out how to extract herself from his embrace before she did something truly stupid.

"There's somethin' I gotta tell ya."

"What is it?" she asked as she heard the others start to countdown to midnight in the other room.

He placed a soft hand under her chin and turned her face to look at him. "I'm not drunk," he said clearly.

"… 3, 2, 1… HAPPY NEW YEAR!" came the shouts from the living room.

"Happy New Year," he whispered before leaning down and brushing her lips with his.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** You wanted it, so here it is: chapter two.

Lindsay's eyes opened wide as Danny's lips met hers. She was too shocked to even consider kissing him back and just sat there frozen for a moment before suddenly pulling away.

"What are you…?"

"Hey guys! You missed…" Flack poked his head into the room and trailed off as he realized just what had been happening. A knowing grin spread across his face as he took in the sight of his coworkers looking rather snuggly on the bed. "Nevermind," he chuckled, ducking back out into the living room.

"Wait! No!" Lindsay cried, horrified, at the quickly closing door. She jumped up from the bed and looked around helplessly, unconsciously straightening her clothes which hadn't been rumpled at all by what was barely more than a peck from Danny. She started taking deep breaths, but they were coming too close together. A pain started to spread through her chest.

Danny, for his part, looked like a kicked puppy. It was New Year's, wasn't it? You were allowed to kiss girls at midnight on New Year's. It was a free shot. Sure he'd maneuvered things so that he could be sure that _he_ was the one kissing her, but did she really have to hyperventilate as a result? "Y'alright there, Monroe?" he asked, his voice quite a bit colder than it had been a moment before.

Lindsay pressed her palm against her chest and shook her head, desperately trying to breathe. Bending down, she put her other hand on her knee in an attempt to stop the room from spinning.

"Monroe?" Danny asked with more concern. "Montana?" he got up from the bed and went over to her, feeling a pain deep in his gut when she cringed away from his touch. "Lindsay… look, I'm… I'm sorry, ok?" His face twisted with regret and fear at her reaction. "Please, Lindsay just… sit down, ok? Just sit down and… and breathe?" He took a chair from the corner of the room and brought it over for her.

Lindsay sank down onto the upholstery and placed her head between her knees. She concentrated on taking each breath slowly, counting to five as she breathed in and again as she breathed out. She coughed and sputtered for a few moments, but was gradually able to get air into her lungs again. "I'm sorry," she whispered after her breathing returned to normal.

"Hey," Danny said nervously, "I can still brag that I took your breath away, right?" he laughed, lamely.

Lindsay managed a slight chuckle at that, more to assuage his feelings than because she thought it was particularly funny. "Right," she croaked, feeling the tears rise up in her eyes. Taking another deep breath, she fought them back and managed to look up at Danny, kneeling beside her. "I really _am_ sorry, Danny. I… I wasn't… I didn't expect…" She shook her head and managed to form her quavering lips into something resembling a smile. "I thought that when I said… before…" She let out something that barely equating a laugh. "You still want drinks and laughs?" she asked, her voice trembling and her eyes seeking out the carpet.

Danny's chest tightened but he didn't allow himself to hope. Not yet. "I want a few dinners in there, too," he joked while holding his breath.

Lindsay bit her lip and struggled again to breathe normally and keep her tears in check. "Do you think…" she tangled her fingers in her lap, not really sure of how to say it but desperately needing to hear his answer. "Would you mind… waiting? …For breakfasts?" She closed her eyes and winced, not really believing that she'd said that.

Danny's eyes widened at the realization that she might be changing her mind about needing space. "No problem," he answered, his heart beating faster as hope ran through him. "Dinner's my favourite meal, anyway." He once more placed a hand under her chin and forced her to face him. "Eatin' lasagna for breakfast just seems _wrong_ somehow, y'know?"

Unable to help herself, Lindsay finally let out a genuine laugh. "Thank you," she whispered, cupping his face in her palm.

"Any time, Montana," he grinned back. "How you feelin' now?" he asked with some concern. "It's just that, one or both of us should get out there pretty soon or people're gonna think we was … doin' stuff." He stood up and pulled her up with him.

Lindsay's face was etched with determination as she pressed her hands against his chest. "You know what?" she asked, gritting her teeth and setting her jaw. "Let 'em think." Standing on her toes, she pressed her lips softly against his. "Happy New Year, Danny."


End file.
